It looks like a good piece of kit. I especially like the lens rings for focus, zoom and iris and the way the LCD retracts into the handle for protection. The button functions are reasonably comprehensive I see and to be able to access zebras, colour bars, white balance, manual/auto focus and iris without recourse to the menu would be almost heaven for me.

I still hate touch screens, but as as everything needed for shooting is available without using the screen, I could live with it.

As you say, it looks like a winner. I haven't seen a pound price yet, but a projected Euro price of €1,800 means it ought to quite affordable.

Hi DaveI think the HMC users are going to fight to get one ... with an LCD with 1.1 million pixels against the usual 230,000 the screens are awesome..plus XLR and dual card slots..it also has a bigger (and wider) lens and backlit chips and the IQ is awesome. It's actually not that small..much bigger than the HMC40 and about the same size as the DVX100 ... price bracket in the USA is projected at $2000 so the price might even drop a bit too...There is no a lot out there at this quality for that price. It also has spot focus and spot exposure!Yeah I don't like touch screens either but all the "running" controls are extrenal so you would only use the menu now to change modes or format cards and wouldn't need to access the menu during filming.I wonder what our PAL price would be like If it's reasonable I would most definately grab on as a B-Cam ..Because of the forward and high mounted LCD like Sony have, it would only need a simple rail system under the camera and a shoulder pad at the end plus a nice loupe (the one that the GH1 guys use is nice as it fixes onto the LCD nicely) and you have a nice lightweight shoulder-mount camera too!!Chris